Lombard’s website transparency policy ‘strongest’ in state
The website transparency policy the Lombard Village Board approved unanimously Thursday night is the strongest such policy in the state, according to a group that audits government websites for openness.
It requires the village to post 10 categories of information online “in an easily accessible place on the website, with all documents provided in a searchable format.”
“This is the strongest that I am aware of that is actually something that they put in their statutes or their ordinances,” said Brian Costin, director of outreach for the Illinois Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research organization that audits government websites based on a 10-point transparency checklist.
Contact information for elected officials and village administrators; meeting dates and agendas; a Freedom of Information contact person; budgets; financial audits; expenditures; salaries and benefits; contracts, including agreements with union employees; information about lobbying firms the village uses; taxes and fees; and building and zoning information must be available online, according to the policy.
Salaries, however, will be posted by title and not by name.
Still, Lombard’s policy remains the strongest on the books, Costin said. And the village has the potential to get a perfect score on its next Illinois Policy Institute audit.
“They can still score 100 percent although we do prefer to use identity” when providing salary information, Costin said.
Even without posting names, the policy is a win for Lombard taxpayers, said Trustee Peter Breen, who brought forward the idea.
“It sends the right message to our residents,” Breen said. “Open government is the way we’re going to operate.”
Breen said having the policy in writing will prevent future elected officials from trying to hide big ticket purchases, contracts, lobbyist bills or other information about how taxpayer money is spent.
“I am a big proponent of having elected officials implement a strong policy,” Breen said. “I want to see a strong and detailed policy to make sure that if somebody changes their line in the future, they’ve got to change the policy.”
In most categories, information will be posted dating back five years.
But in the case of expenditures, that will take some time. Village staff will review the check register and remove any personal information that’s protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act before posting spending information online.
Putting a website transparency policy in writing is only the first step to providing openness, the Illinois Policy Institute’s Costin said.
“We just want to make sure they live up to what they have promised their local residents and I think that they will,” Costin said. “The people are the bosses and they should get to know how the money is being used.”